The BBC’s Nick Beake sees homes razed to the ground and “a sea of black” in the village of Bédar, in southern Spain’s Almería province.

The blaze spread rapidly through the region on Thursday and hundreds of firefighters have been battling the fires, which have claimed the lives of 12 people.

Wildfires have burned through 6,600 hectares (16,300 acres), according to local authorities.

A sustained heatwave with temperatures of around 40C (104F) has caused wildfires across Southern Europe this summer, particularly in France, Portugal and Spain.